Fox News host defiantly refers to Chelsea Manning as ‘Bradley’

On Fox News’ American Newsroom today, host Gregg Jarrett invited former prosecutor Annemarie McAvoy on to discuss the possibility that Chelsea Manning might sue the federal government if not provided access to hormone therapy. Jarrett continued to refer to Manning, who announced yesterday that she would be living as a female, as “Bradley” and used the masculine pronoun “he.”

After the segment, Jarrett defended this usage:

People out there, don’t send me angry emails that I refered to him as Bradley and not Chelsea and him instead of her. I don’t do what Bradley Manning wants me to do. So thanks very much.

The question of whether Jarrett should “do what Bradley Manning wants [him] to do” is separate from the transition that Chelsea Manning explicitly asked news organizations to respect in her announcement on Wednesday. Jarrett’s defiance is just the latest example of Fox maligning transgender people.

Earlier this month, Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson responded to a discussion about transgender rights by saying “I just can’t get my head around this.” Last year on Fox & Friends, a member of the Fox News Medical A-Team responded to a question about a mother allowing her son to play with dolls by calling her “nuts” and asking “What’s so bad about kids being able to be masculine and feminine? Do we have to wrench this into some non-genderness?” The same correspondent earlier complained to Bill O’Reilly that Chaz Bono was an example of “somebody who is not a man, asserting that he is a man.” He also compared Bono to an anorexic and heroin addict.

Video of the entire segment can be found below. His remarks about “Bradley Manning” begin at 3:34.

About the Author

Scott Eric Kaufman is the proprietor of the AV Club's Internet Film School and, in addition to Raw Story, also writes for Lawyers, Guns & Money. He earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of California, Irvine in 2008.